By Cynthia D. Ellis, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy 

Earlier this year, the weather was cold at my home– snowy and icy and in the grip of a bit of real winter not often experienced now down in the Kanawha Valley. But I was feeling sun-warmed, with soft breezes wafting by, as I was deep in reading “My Summer with Ospreys: A Therapist’s Journey Toward Hope, Community, and Healing Our Planet.”

A few summers ago, Pamela Lowell was delighted to find that she had a chance to participate in a coastal Massachusetts program which monitored the nests of Ospreys.  A trauma therapist and more-than-a-beginner watercolor artist, Lowell had become captivated by “fish hawks” after moving to an area which hosted one of America’s most productive nesting sites.

Her book recounts a volunteer’s experience with a bird banding effort. Many of us in the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy have visited such a project at the Allegheny Front Migration Observatory on Dolly Sods. I was lucky enough to serve as a “net tender” there for short periods each season for 20 years. “My Summer” provides an introduction, or a chance to remember, a special location where birds are studied and cherished.

Lowell illustrates her narrative with her own paintings. Watercolor scenes can be both vibrant and muted. The paintings chronicle the adventure, with views of both the imposing raptors and the places and people. One depicts a volunteer climbing a very tall ladder to access the bird family on a nesting platform.

The author’s writing style is chatty, self-examining, and self-deprecating, and does not miss opportunities to explain scientific project terms and facts about Ospreys without being pedantic. 

I like that she uses capital letters for the first letter of each species name. There is controversy in the bird world on that point. 

She excels in descriptions of anything in nature. Here’s the appearance of an Osprey’s eggs: “Small, about the size of extra-large chicken eggs, but that’s where the comparison ends. These are the color of French vanilla ice cream with melted milk chocolate morsels and dark reddish-brown cinnamon swirls. If you’ve ever done wax batik or made a tie-dye T-shirt, the patterns are like that. Some of the splotches are shaped like small continents, a view of the earth if you were flying far above.”

Trauma therapy has been Ms. Lowell’s primary occupation for decades. This adds a depth of empathy to each person, of every age, and each situation, thrilling or not so, which she met in her bird survey experience. That same feeling prompted her to share thoughts about climate crisis and create a whimsical “interview” with Mother Earth.  

But wait, there’s more. My notes list such diverse bits as: a dead seal penis, the closed talon “punch” of an Osprey, nip bottles as roadside trash, a calming technique called “Butterfly Hug,” her book club and Demon Copperhead.

Enjoying her stories can be very engaging, even if you are not reading them during a time of snow and ice.

“My Summer with Ospreys: A Therapist’s Journey Toward Hope, Community, and Healing Our Planet” winds up with a chapter titled “Hope and Endings.” She closes with, “We must be bold in the face of change. Bold like the Osprey who have bounced back from the brink of extinction; adaptable like the Osprey, who have learned how to live on almost every continent on the earth; creative like the Osprey who decorate their nests with corn cobs and string; hopeful like the Osprey because they travel thousands of miles each year in the hopes of creating a family; and, finally, community minded like the Osprey who share resources and band together against common foes.”